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Factfulness (Illustrated)

by Hans Rosling

by Ola Rosling

by Anna Rosling Rönnlund

The international best-selling phenomenon loved by BARACK OBAMA and BILL GATES in a new and updated illustrated edition

‘A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases.’ BARACK OBAMA‘One of the most important books I’ve ever read – an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.’ BILL GATES*#1 Sunday Times bestseller * instant New York Times bestseller * Observer ‘best brainy book of the decade’ * #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller * Irish Times bestseller * Audio bestseller * Guardian bestseller *

FACTFULNESS: the stress-reducing habit of only having opinions for which there are strong supporting facts.

Things aren’t as bad as we think. Fact.

When asked simple questions about global trends – why the world’s population is increasing; how many young women go to school; how many of us live in poverty – we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.

In Factfulness, legendary statisticians Hans, Anna and Ola Rosling offer a radical new explanation of why this happens, and reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective.

It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. But when we let the bad news take on outsize proportions instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most.

Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world.

Reviews

Factfulness has the power to shift your entire perspective. If you want to understand the world, read it now!

Rolf Dobelli

A wonderful guide to an improving world, as well as being a well-stocked source of sound advice as to how to think about factual and statistical claims . . . The book is a pleasure to read - simple, clear, memorable writing - and when you've finished you'll be a lot wiser about the world. You'll also feel rather happier . . . Factfulness - the relaxing peace of mind you get when you have a clearer view of how the world really is . . . I strongly recommend this book.

Tim Harford

One of the most important books I've ever read-an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.

Bill Gates

An insistently hopeful, fact-based booster shot for a doomsaying, world-weary population [which] parts the dingy curtains of global pessimism to reveal an alternate and uplifting perspective on the state of world issues today. Co-written with Rosling's son and daughter-in-law, the book effectively educates, uplifts, and reassures readers. . . In compelling readers to comprehend the positive aspects of world changes using practical thinking tools, Rosling delivers a sunny global prognosis with a sigh of relief.

Kirkus

Three minutes with Hans Rosling will change your mind about the world.

Nature

Factfulness ... , a light-hearted but data-rich book, calibrates our view of the world and explains how our cognitive processes can lead us astray

Steven Pinker, New Statesman, The best books of 2018

A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases.

Barack Obama

The message is refreshingly clear: when you only hold opinions about things you know the facts about, you can see the world more clearly.

Mr Hyde

Triumphant.

Sunday Times

Hans Rosling tells the story of "the secret silent miracle of human progress" as only he can. But Factfulnessdoes much more than that. It also explains why progress is so often secret and silent and teaches readers how to see it clearly.

Rosling's final work is about the misconceptions most people hold about the world we live in - it's better than we think - and a plea to think critically.

Robert Muchamore, Metro

An unexpectedly uplifting read.

Emerald Street

An assault both on ignorance and pessimism . . . helping countries improve their governance and public health and opening them up to the rule of law and market exchange works. But not by some sort of magic. Because we act. And to this, as Rosling argues, we first have to understand the world we live in.

Daniel Finkelstein, The Times

Wonderful... a passionate and erudite message that is all more moving because it comes from beyond the grave... His knack for presentation and delight in statistics come across on every page. Who else would choose a chart of "guitars per capita" as a proxy for human progress?

Financial Times

I had very high expectations; the book exceeded them. Superb guide to the world and how to be wiser about it. Great storytelling. An inspiration.

Tim Harford

We need more of this way of thinking, both in business and politics. Where better to start than a new book by one of Gates' favourite gurus, the late Swedish statistician Hans Rosling . . . in an age of so-called post-truth, this is a celebration of the all too often repudiated but underlying story of relentless human progress.

Jeremy Warner, Sunday Telegraph

Factfulness is a fabulous read, succinct and lively. It asks why so many people - including Nobel laureates and medical researchers - get the numbers so wrong on pressing issues such as poverty, pandemics and climate change... a just tribute to this book and the man would be a global day of celebration for facts about our world.

Nature

Bestselling books about statistics are as rare as unicorns. One that gets to No.1 is as rare as a lunar unicorn. Factfulness by Hans Rosling is that moon-based creature . . . engaging.